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<h1>Transitive, not Transvestite!</h1>

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<li><a href="#part1">Transitive and Intransitive Verbs</a></li>
<li><a href="#part2">Pay attention to particles!</a></li>
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<h2 id="part1">Transitive and Intransitive Verbs</h2>
In Japanese, sometimes there are two types of the same verb often referred to as <i>transitive</i> and <i>intransitive verbs</i>.  The difference between the two is that
one verb is an action done by an active agent while the other is something that occurs without a direct agent.  In English, this is sometimes
expressed with the same verb, such as: "The ball dropped" vs "I dropped the ball" but in Japanese it becomes
「<span title="ボール - ball" class="popup">ボール</span>が<span title="おちる - to be dropped" class="popup">落<em>ちた</em></span>」 vs 「<span title="ボール - ball" class="popup">ボール</span>を<span title="おとす - to drop" class="popup">落<em>とした</em></span>」.
Sometimes, the verbs changes when translated into English such as "To put it in the box" (<span title="はこ - box" class="popup">箱</span>に<span title="いれる - to insert" class="popup">入れる</span>） vs "To enter the box" （<span title="はこ - box" class="popup">箱</span>に<span title="はいる - to enter" class="popup">入る</span>）
but this is only from the differences in the languages.  If you think in Japanese, intransitive and transitive verbs have the same meaning except that one indicates
that someone had a direct hand in the action (direct object) while the other does not. While knowing the
terminology is not important, it is important to know which is which in order to use the correct particle for the correct verb.

<p>Since the basic
meaning and the kanji is the same, you can learn two verbs for the price of just one kanji!
Let's look at a sample list of intransitive and transitive verbs.
</p>

<p />
<center>
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">
<caption>Transitive and Intransitive Verbs</caption>
<tr align="center"><th colspan="2">Transitive</th><th colspan="2">Intransitive</th></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="おとす - to drop" class="popup">落とす</span></td><td>to drop</td><td><span title="おちる - to fall" class="popup">落ちる</span></td><td>to fall</td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="だす - to take out" class="popup">出す</span></td><td>to take out</td><td><span title="でる - to come out" class="popup">出る</span></td><td>to come out; to leave</td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="いれる - to insert" class="popup">入れる</span></td><td>to insert</td><td><span title="はいる - to enter" class="popup">入る</span></td><td>to enter</td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="あける - to open" class="popup">開ける</span></td><td>to open</td><td><span title="あく - to be opened" class="popup">開く</span></td><td>to be opened</td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="しめる - to close" class="popup">閉める</span></td><td>to close</td><td><span title="しまる - to be closed" class="popup">閉まる</span></td><td>to be closed</td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="つける - to attach" class="popup">付ける</span></td><td>to attach</td><td><span title="つく - to be attached" class="popup">付く</span></td><td>to be attached</td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="けす - to erase" class="popup">消す</span></td><td>to erase</td><td><span title="きえる - to disappear" class="popup">消える</span></td><td>to disappear</td></tr>

<tr align="center"><td><span title="ぬく - to extract" class="popup">抜く</span></td><td>to extract</td><td><span title="ぬける - to be extracted" class="popup">抜ける</span></td><td>to be extracted</td></tr>
</table>
</center>

<h2 id="part2">Pay attention to particles!</h2>
The important lesson to take away here is to learn how to use the correct particle for the correct type of verb. It might be difficult at first to grasp which is which when learning new verbs or whether there even is a transitive/intransitive distinction. The good news is that the <a href="http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html">WWWJDIC</a> now indicates whether a verb is transitive (vt) or intransitive (vi) when the distinction applies. However, I have not tested how extensive the coverage is so I recommend looking at examples sentences from either the <a href="http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/wwwjdic.html">WWWJDIC</a> or <a href="http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/">Yahoo!辞書</a>. For example, looking at example sentences for 「<span title="つける - to attach" class="popup">付ける</span>」 from the <a href="http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1Q%C9%D5%A4%B1%A4%EB_1_">WWWJDIC</a> or <a href="http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%A4%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B&stype=0&dtype=3">Yahoo!辞書</a>, you can see that it is a transitive verb from the use of the 「を」 particle.

<h3>Examples</h3>

<p>（１）　<span title="わたし - me, myself, I" class="popup">私</span>が<span title="でんき - electricity, (electric) light" class="popup">電気</span><em>を</em><span title="つける - to attach" class="popup">付けた</span>。- I am the one that turned on the lights.
<br />（２）　<span title="でんき - electricity, (electric) light" class="popup">電気</span><em>が</em><span title="つく - to be attached" class="popup">付いた</span>。- The lights turned on.
<br />（３）　<span title="でんき - electricity, (electric) light" class="popup">電気</span><em>を</em><span title="けす - to erase" class="popup">消す</span>。- Turn off the lights.
<br />（４）　<span title="でんき - electricity, (electric) light" class="popup">電気</span><em>が</em><span title="きえる - to disappear" class="popup">消える</span>。- Lights turn off.
<br />（５）　<span title="だれ - who" class="popup">誰</span>が<span title="まど - window" class="popup">窓</span><em>を</em><span title="あける - to open" class="popup">開けた</span>？- Who opened the window?
<br />（６）　<span title="まど - window" class="popup">窓</span><em>が</em><span title="どうして - why" class="popup">どうして</span><span title="あく - to be opened" class="popup">開いた</span>？- Why has the window opened?
</p>

<p>The important thing to remember is that intransitive verbs <i>cannot</i> have a direct object because there is no direct acting agent.
The following sentences are grammatically incorrect.
<br />
<br />（誤）　<span title="でんき - electricity, (electric) light" class="popup">電気</span><em><strike>を</strike></em><span title="つく - to be attached" class="popup">付いた</span>。- （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
<br />（誤）　<span title="でんき - electricity, (electric) light" class="popup">電気</span><em><strike>を</strike></em><span title="きえる - to disappear" class="popup">消える</span>。- （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
<br />（誤）　<span title="どうして - why" class="popup">どうして</span><span title="まど - window" class="popup">窓</span><em><strike>を</strike></em><span title="あく - to be opened" class="popup">開いた</span>？- （「を」 should be replaced with 「が」 or 「は」）
</p>

<p>
The only time you can use the 「を」 particle for intransitive verbs is when a location is the direct object of a motion verb as briefly described in the <a href="particles2.html#part2">previous section</a>.
<p>（１）　<span title="へや - room" class="popup">部屋</span><em>を</em><span title="でる - to come out; to leave" class="popup">出た</span>。- I left room.
</p>

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<div class="small" style="text-align:right;"><pre>This page has last been revised on 2006/12/1</pre></div>

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